NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AGPH) shares rose 7% on
news that Lehman Brothers analysts upgraded the stock to buy from outperform.
Earnings expectations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1999, were widened
to $1.33 a share from 94 cents a share, the analysts said in their research
report.
The analysts, C. Anthony Butler and E. Ende, also initiated an earnings
estimate of $1.85 a share for the company's fiscal year ending June 30, 2000.
Earnings expectations for the La Jolla, Calif., pharmaceutical company
reflect quicker penetration and greater market-share assumptions for Viracept,
a protease inhibitor for the treatment of AIDS, said the Lehman Brothers
analysts.
The analysts based their assumption of increased Viracept revenues on
expectations that Viracept will capture market share from Merck & Co. (MRK),
which sells Crixivan, a competing protease inhibitor, quicker than previously
anticipated.
Viracept sales also should accelerate during the next year as it captures
market share from Abbott Laboratories (ABT) due to manufacturing problems with
Abbott's Norvir, another competing protease inhibitor.
The increased competitiveness of Viracept could hasten a possible takeover
of the company by several likely suitors, the analysts said.
The analysts' fiscal year 1999 views compare with a First Call consensus of
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